Dear Nicholas ChongYen. Thank you for your email stating that the AG’s office has no records responsive to my request regarding payments to AG Gordon MacDonald or Associate AG Jane Young related to Marsy’s Law.
Would it be fair to say that the AG’s office doesn’t actually have any rules in place that prohibit any member of the AG’s office from receiving payments for lobbying, which may be received indirectly from lobbying firms or law firms that were paid for Marsy’s Law – of which there are a number per the Marsy’s Law filings?
Would it be fair to say that, in fact, hiding monies received for lobbying would be exceptionally easy in New Hampshire because of the lackadaisical nature of the Lobby Returns and oversight of these by the Secretary of State?
And that, despite the laws for ad honorarium lobby reporting requirements under RSA 14-C, AG Gordon MacDonald failed to report his lobbying for Marsy’s Law, and so did Associate AG Jane Young and Deputy AG Geoffrey Ward?
AG Gordon MacDonald did a video-recorded endorsement for Marsy’s Law, and payments were received by Amanda Grady Sexton of the NHCADSV for the video recording equipment for that endorsement per the Marsy’s Law return. Neither she nor he reported their lobbying activity as required under RSA 15-A or 14 C.
I see no Statute that allows an Attorney General to do political advertising; let alone political advertising for a law that the AG knew (per RTK documents received from the AG’s office) would amend the Constitution to which he swore an oath of office to uphold.
RTK emails from the AG’s office confirm that it was absolutely known to AG MacDonald and Associate AG Jane Young that they were amending the Constitution and that this was being done covertly without the public being informed of their covert activity in the fall of October 2017 in Concord City Chambers. RTK emails also reveal that County Attorneys to whom AG MacDonald and Lyn Schollett of the NHCADSV presented the case for Marsy’s Law, had serious issues with the constitutional amendment.
- https://nh.marsyslaw.us/ (See Gordon MacDonald’s video endorsement at 01.37 in the video).
- https://www.wmur.com/article/sununu-promises-relentless-broad-campaign-to-add-victims-right-to-nh-constitution/15282158
- https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/I/14-C/14-C-mrg.ht
- https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/I/15-A/15-A-mrg.htm
Amanda Grady Sexton endorsed Gordon MacDonald for his 2019 application to the Supreme Court, indicating a mutual favor: he supported Marsy’s Law for her, she endorsed his application for the Supreme Court. This is the kind of “ad honorarium” lobbying that must be reported.
Would it also be fair to say that the AG’s office has not enforced any laws regarding lobbying by its own members to make constitutional amendments for out-of-state billionaires – as happened with Marsy’s Law and AG MacDonald’s and Associate AG Jane Young, Deputy AG Geoffrey Ward’s active participation?
Does the AG’s office have any mechanism to police itself?
